American Wizard
by since1995
Summary: An outsiders view on Harry Potter's adventures with some romance thrown in. This is my first story so please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"MOM!"I yelled.

"C'mon, just let me get it," she complained.

"It's fine!" I whined, "Now let's go I don't want to be late!"

Ugh! We were already late! I knew she didn't want me to go, but was she desperate enough to keep me from my flight!

_Fourteen Hours Later_

_Erin-_ _Well I'm finally here. In London. All alone. In a train station. Yippee._

_ It was tough saying goodbye to them, after all the longest I've been on my own is two weeks, and that was only in another state now I'm all the way over the Atlantic! But now their gone and I'm on my way looking for platform… 9 and ¾? Well no matter, it must be around here somewhere. Let's see… platform 8… platform 9… platform 10. Hmmm. If it's anything like Diagon Alley it must be magically protected. Ugh. What a headache._

I leaned in on the brick divider under the nine sign pulling my cart with me and was very surprised when it caved in! It took a second for my eyes to adjust but then I saw it. The engraved sign _Hogwarts Express_. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"May I take your luggage?" I heard in a cheery British accent. I turned around to see a man in a pristine uniform smiling at me.

"Um, yes, thank you." I smiled back. I grabbed my pet bat's cage and hurried aboard the train. Snowflake, named after the white speckles on her head, screeched in her cage. The other kids looked at her like she was some disease. Apparently cats were more in style for girls and rats for boys. Whatever, I was used to standing out from the crowd. It seems snowflake had her own kind of magic because all of the seats on the train suddenly filled up. Except one.

"Excuse me," I said in my own American accent. "May I sit here everyone seems to mind snowflake." I said holding up the silent bat.

"You have a bat?" The thin boy with shaggy black hair and large rimmed glasses asked.

"Yes…" I replied, "Is that a problem?"

"No, no, not at all! I just didn't know anyone who had one. It's actually pretty cool. By the way, I'm Harry Potter. What's your name?"

"I'm Erin Morndel."

"Like Tristan Morndel, the famous soccer player?"

"He's my cousin."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I'd never even met him until about a day ago. He was really nice; did you know he's a wizard?"

"Really?" He sounded amazed.

"Yeah, he's the one who took me to Diagon Alley, so I could get all the stuff on the list."

We heard a knock on the door and looked over to see a boy with red hair standing there with a pitiful looking rat in his hand. "Do you mind if I sit in here, everywhere else is full?"

"Not at all." Harry and I said in unison.

"I'm Ron Weasley, by the way, and this," he said holding up the rat, "is Scabbers."

"My name is Erin Morndel."

"And I'm Harry Potter."

Ron's eyes bulged like he'd seen a ghost. "You're Harry Potter?" Harry nodded clearly confused. Ron lowered his voice to a whisper, "Do you really have the _scar_?" Harry laughed and pulled up his bangs. There was a large lightning bolt shaped scar in the middle of his forehead. "Wicked!" Ron said.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. "Where'd you get that from?"

Ron's eyes almost popped out of his head. "You mean you don't know who this is?!!"

I was a bit confused. "He's Harry Potter, right?"

"Well, yes, but have you ever heard of him before?"

I could feel my temper rising. "No, should I have?"

Snowflake, who up until then had been sleeping in her cage on the shelf above Ron's head, sensed the distress in my voice and started screeching. Ron let out a squeal equally as high-pitched and jumped off his seat.

"Bloody hell!" Ron yelled.

Harry and I erupted into laughter. "Ron, meet Snowflake, Snowflake this is Ron."

"Don't bats eat rats?" Ron asked.

"She's a fruit bat, Scabbers should be fine." He looked relieved.

"So anyway, maybe Harry should tell you why he's so famous in the wizarding world." Ron said.

I looked at Harry. "Well, I only know a little of it myself." he said. "But I can tell you what I do know. Apparently there was an evil wizard called Lord Voldemort." Ron winced. "He was so bad no one even says his name. Well anyway this dark lord came into my house one night and killed my parents, he tried to kill me too, when I was just a baby, but for some reason the spell backfired and he only gave me this scar."

"That's terrible!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, the really awful part is that I have to live with my aunt and uncle who are extremely opposed to magic to say the least, I'm just a thorn in their side."

"I'm so sorry!" I reached other and hugged him. He stiffened so I immediately let go. "Sorry again, I'm a hugger." I said with an apologetic grin.

"That's alright." Harry said grinning. I could see the faintest hint of a blush on his cheeks.

After that Harry, Ron, and I just talked for a while. I found out Ron had five older brothers and one younger sister. And that Harry had a snowy owl named Hedwig who was currently asleep and Harry didn't want to wake her up. When the trolley cart came by me and Harry bought sweets for all of us.

"Can you guys do any magic on purpose?" I asked half-way through my chocolate frog. Harry shook his head.

"George taught me one on how to turn Scabbers yellow." Ron said. He cleared his throat and started the spell. "Sunshine, daisies-"

"Excuse me," came a voice from the doorway. We all looked up to see a girl with long light brown wavy hair and somewhat large buck teeth standing in the aisle. "Have any of you seen a toad, a boy named Neville lost one." She looked over at Ron. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it then."

Ron cleared his throat again and repeated the spell, swishing his wand around as he spoke, "Sunshine, daisies, lemon mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow!" Scabbers gave an indignant squeak and fell backwards.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? I've only done a few myself but they've all worked for me." She walked over near Harry. "For example," she pointed her wand in between Harry's eyes and said, _"Oculus Repairo"_ the tape shot off of Harry's glasses and the frame was fixed.

"Whoa." Harry said.

"I know who you are! You're Harry Potter! I'm Hermione Granger, pleasure to meet you." The girl said while violently shaking his hand. She turned and looked at Ron. "And you are…?"

"Ron Weasley."

"Pleasure." Hermione replied. She turned to me "What's your name?"

"I'm Erin Morndel. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too. Well, I better help look for Neville's toad again see you later. By the way you guys might want to change into your robes; I expect we'll be arriving soon." Then she left.

We all sat there in silence for a while not really knowing what to say. "Well, she seemed nice." I finally said.

"Speak for yourself." Ron replied.

With that in mind, we got into our robes and awaited our arrival. Which, as Hermione had earlier predicted, came very soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The train slowed to a stop and Harry, Ron, and I stood up to stretch. We started to make our way off the crowded train, though having an owl a rat and a very loud bat with us seemed to clear a path. When we finally made it off the train and found our luggage we heard someone calling for the first-year students. My dumb luggage burst open though so I had to fix it. And when I turned around they were gone! That's when things got interesting.

"Hey!" came a voice from where the boats had been tied together. _Is he talking to me? _"You, over there, with the bat!" _I guess so._ I ran over. Relief tumbled through my body when I saw the last boat bobbing up and down in the water. I looked up at the boy who'd just saved my day.

"Thanks so much for holding it; I thought I'd be stuck here all night!"

"No problem, now get on before it moves without us!"

I jumped on and almost did a face plant on the boat when I felt a strong hand hold on to my arm. "Careful!" He said, "It's a bit slippery."

When I was finally seated with snowflake near my side he got on and the boat started moving. I squinted through the darkness trying to see the boy's face, then he lit the lantern and I saw him clearly. He had a pale complexion and bright platinum blond hair with silvery eyes and narrowed features. He, too, looked at me and I, always being the klutzy nerd, blushed slightly and dropped the lantern crushing my foot in the process. I sucked in my breath and let out a small groan. "Ouch!" I howled. I moved the lantern off my foot and started gently massaging it.

"It's amazing how many times you've injured yourself in the last five minutes!" the boy laughed.

I grimaced, "It takes a certain type of skill, I guess." I replied sarcastically. He laughed again. "Anyway…, my name is Erin Morndel, what's yours?"

"Draco Malfoy."

"Nice to meet you, Draco."

After about five minutes we finally arrived Hogwarts he stepped out first and then helped me out, but when I put pressure on my smashed foot I toppled over in pain. "OUCH!"

"What would you do without me?" He teased.

"Right now, I'm not so sure." I laughed. He put my arm around his neck; poor snow flake had her cage jostled around in my other hand. We hobbled up into the castle and up a stair case to a landing where we found the others standing around, including a somewhat worried looking Harry and Ron.

"Where have you been?" Ron asked.

"Having tea with the Queen, what do you think?"

"My goodness, what happened?" an older looking woman asked.

"I had a slight accident with the lamp on the boat." I told her "My foot got crushed."

"Madame Pomfrey!" another woman came bustling over. "Madame Pomfrey, could you please, quickly take Miss Morndel to the Hospital Wing?"

"Yes, of course." Madame Pomfrey said. "Come with me, dear."

Harry and Ron stepped up. "She's our friend, can we come, too."

The woman looked flustered. "No, she will be back soon no reason for you two to tag along."

I gave them an 'I'll be fine, don't worry' smile and limped off with Madame Pomfrey. A few minutes later I was walking back good as new, but something was different. Ron and Harry were glaring at Draco and Draco was glaring right back. "Um… hi guys," they all looked up and smiled, well, Draco just looked up. "Uh, Harry, Ron this is Draco he helped me to the castle after I crushed my foot, Draco, this is Harry and this is Ron."

Three very unenthusiastic 'hi's came from each of the boys. I looked at each of them. Ron was looking at me, Harry was glaring at Draco's feet, and Draco was just staring at the wall. Just then the older woman, who Harry told me was Professor McGonagall, came in and told us to line up.

We all walked into an enormous cathedral-like room that had a starry sky in place of a ceiling. I heard Hermione tell the girl next to her that it was bewitched to do that. Apparently, first-year students get sorted into houses. Unfortunately, we didn't get to pick where we wanted to go, somebody else did.

All of the first-years gathered around a stool with a grubby looking hat on it. I looked at Harry, slightly confused. He looked back at me with equal confusion. "When I call your names each of you will come up here and put the hat on and you will be sorted into your houses: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, or Gryffindor." Professor McGonagall told us. "Susan Bones."

The red haired girl Hermione had been talking to, timidly walked up to the stool and sat down. Professor McGonagall lowered the wrinkled hat onto her head. I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard the hat call out "Hufflepuff!" I was so surprised I reached out gripped Harry's arm. He looked at me and I took it back a little embarrassed at being so jumpy. He grabbed my hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Ronald Weasley." I looked to my left and saw Ron frozen in place with a terrified look on his face.

"I don't think it bites." I whispered to Ron. The corners of his mouth came up a little and the tips of his ears turned red. He took a few small steps to the stool and sat down. The professor gently placed the hat on his head.

"Another Weasley, hmmm? Well I know just what to do with you! Gryffindor!" the hat exclaimed. Ron slumped in relief and a cheer erupted from the far left table. Ron jumped off the stool and joined his three older brothers.

"Draco Malfoy." Draco walked up calm as ever. I gave him a small smile as the professor started to lower the hat before it had even touched his head the hat's voice rang out "Slytherin!" I was a bit disappointed, but Draco seemed ecstatic so I kept the smile on my face.

"Hermione Granger." Hermione took a deep breath and made her way up to the stool and hat after it was on her head it didn't take long for the hat's decision "Gryffindor!" Hermione ran over to join Ron, who looked a bit annoyed.

"Harry Potter." A rush of whispers surged through the crowd.

"Your turn." I whispered. He smiled at me then stepped up and the room went dead silent. He sat down and the hat came down on his head. I tried to hear what the hat was saying but two boys in front of me decided to have a conversation so I could only catch the last little bit.

"-well if you're sure, better be… Gryffindor!" A deafening roar came up from the Gryffindor table and Harry went to join them.

The rest of the first-years went and then, when I was the only one left, it was my turn. "Erin Morndel."

I walked up to the stool thinking hard, _this hat is going to decide where I am for all my years at Hogwarts? That seems a little unfair; it's my life, not his! Shouldn't I decide where I want to go?_

"You're very right, Erin, you should decide where you want to go, so where _**do**_ you want to go?"

I thought about it for a second, _I'm not sure._ I thought up to it._ I have one friend_ _in Slytherin but I have two friends in Gryffindor._

"You're basing your decision off of where you're friends are? What about you? Each house stands for something, you know, Slytherin stands for the most cunning, Ravenclaw stands for the smartest, Hufflepuff is for the jolliest, and Gryffindor is for bravest. So which one do you belong in?

_I don't know. __Now__ I know why you make the decisions. You can see into my mind where do I belong?_

"Oh Erin, with a heart of innocence and a need for understanding the world, you are one of the hardest decisions I've had to make in over 300 years! Your brain belongs in Ravenclaw, but your smile belongs in Hufflepuff, your thoughts belong in Slytherin, but your heart belongs in Gryffindor. But since you can only belong to one I think you belong the most in…" My heart was pounding. "Gryffindor!" The cheering from the Gryffindor table was loud, but I could hear Ron and Harry above them all.

_Why? _I asked the hat.

"You will have to find out for yourself." It replied.

I hurried over to the Gryffindor table to find everyone in the room still looking at me. I blushed a little and faced the front where a man with a long white beard was walking up to the podium. I could tell he was the headmaster Dumbledore I had received my letter from. The way he cleared his throat, making everyone immediately face him, was a giant clue. He said a few words of welcome and told us about some school rules, but I couldn't really listen because the blood was still thrumming in my ears. When he was done talking he snapped his fingers and suddenly there was a feast in front us. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I were all startled for a second, but were so hungry it didn't even matter how the food got there. During the dinner I was asked a million questions like, 'What were you telling the hat?' and 'Did you actually choose a house but the hat said 'no'?' Sometime during the dinner I caught Draco's eye but he always had the same expression: somewhere between hurt and disappointment. Finally, it was time for bed, and Ron's brother Percy (a prefect) led all the first-years up to the Gryffindor common room. It was a very cozy room furnished with gold and scarlet pillows, rugs, tables and comfortable looking chairs with a cheery fire crackling in the fireplace. "The girls' dormitories are on the right staircase, the boys' on the left." He told us. Me and Hermione were tired so we said goodnight to the boys and went up to our new room. We found all of our belongings near our beds including Snowflake. I went over and gave her some fruit I had brought from dinner. She let out a small squeak that she often did when she was happy.

"So you're the one who had the bat." Hermione said. That's really very cool I wanted one but I wasn't sure if I could handle a pet this year."

"So she doesn't bother you?" I asked.

"As long as she doesn't make so much noise at night or when I'm studying she should be fine."

"She's actually very quiet as long as nothing spooks her or she hears me upset."

"Good. Well goodnight." She said as she pulled the curtains around her bed closed.

"Goodnight." I replied. I laid down to rest thinking of today's events and what tomorrow would be like. And then fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

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Chapter Three

Even in a magic school morning came much too early. "Wake up!" I heard Hermione yell. She was already in the bathroom, brushing her teeth, dressed and ready to go. I jumped out of bed fearing I had overslept;_ I could've sworn I set my alarm clock._ I hurried to the bathroom too upset to look at the clock. _Unbelievable, I'm going to be late on my first day._ I quickly peeled off my soft pajamas and jumped in the shower. When I got out, I ripped through my hair with a brush and began to brushing my teeth. When all that was done, I looked over at Hermione, calmly reading her book. _That's not right. _I glanced at the clock on the side table next to my bed.

"Hermione!" I yelled_. _She looked up from her book. "You woke me up an hour earlier than I needed to be?!!"

"Shut up!" one of the girls who was still sleeping, moaned.

"Why?" I whispered.

"I didn't want my friend to be late on her first day." She replied innocently.

I couldn't stay mad even though I wanted to. "Hermione, I know that you're trying to help, but how 'bout we let my alarm clock do its job from now on, K?"

"Alright. When you're done in there do you want to go down to the common room?" she asked.

"Sure." I replied.

I finished up and left down the stairs with Hermione. We sat down in the big comfy chairs in front of the fire and talked for a while. A little later Harry and Ron came down to join us.

"Good morning." Harry said.

"Good morning." Hermione and I replied.

"I think breakfast starts around now, anybody hungry?"

"Starving." Harry and Ron said in unison.

We went down and sat at the Gryffindor table. The food was delicious; I helped myself to some eggs, bacon, toast, cinnamon muffins, and apple juice. Half way through the meal I dropped my spoon and bent to retrieve it. I heard Draco and his friends come by and say something to Harry. I popped up and smiled "Hi, Draco." I said cheerfully. His expression changed from a frown to a small smile in an instant.

"Hello, Erin. We were just wondering if you would like to come sit at the Slytherin table today." He said.

"Well, I'm kind of already sitting here right now, but what about at lunch. Is that ok?"

"Perfect, ok then, see you at lunch." Draco said with a victorious grin that seemed to be directed at Harry. He and his friends walked away, talking amongst themselves.

I looked down at the table and saw that Harry's knuckles were white and his teeth were clenched.

"Harry, are you OK?" I asked a bit concerned.

"Yeah, fine." He replied, although he looked anything but. I looked around at Hermione and Ron, who looked equally displeased. I knew something was wrong I just decided to drop it.

"So, what's our first class?" I asked Hermione.

"Transfiguration." She replied.

"Well then," I said with a smile, "we don't want to be late, now do we?"

We left the Great Hall, and began looking for the class room. It took us a while, but we had left early and made it just in time. We sat down and Professor McGonagall began talking to us about what transfiguration was and other things like that, but I was only half listening.

"Hermione." She ignored me. "Hermione." I whispered a little more harshly.

"What?!" She asked in a low voice.

"Why were you guys so quiet after I talked to Draco?" I asked her.

"I'll show you after class."

During lunch Hermione and I went up to the girls' dormitory. She took a small round glass plate out of her trunk and laid it on a desk. Then she took a shiny little black stone out of her pocket and laid it on her the plate. The stone dissolved and a small fog swirled around the plate, then I saw the foyer outside the Great Hall Harry and Ron were standing there when I came in. After I went limping out with Madame Pomfrey, Draco met up with his friends and all three of them walked over to Ron and Harry. Draco got an evil look on his face I hadn't seen before then he started making fun of Ron. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, when the picture faded and the pebble was there again. I got up, thanked Hermione, and left to go talk to Draco.

I walked past Harry and Ron, and straight up to Draco. "Can we talk?" I said trying to keep most of the venom out of my voice.

"Of course." He replied.

We left the Great Hall and went behind a pillar, he looked straight at me. "What is it?" he asked.

"I know for a fact that you insulted Ron and then again while I was away from the table. Why?" I asked.

He looked stunned. "I-I don't know. I just don't like him very much. Look, Erin, I want to be your friend, but you have to choose between me and them."

Despite trying to keep my cool, my mouth fell open. "Your making me choose?!!" He nodded. "Well then… I choose Harry, Hermione, and Ron because they knew me and you were friends and _they_ didn't make me choose." I told him. My tears were threatening to spill over, but I stood there, foolishly thinking he'd take back what he said.

I could see the hurt in his eyes. "You chose them? How can you choose them?!! I helped you when they left you behind, I let you lean on me after you hurt your foot, and you still chose them!!!! Well then go away and leave me alone!!!!"

"Draco-"

"Go away you little bitch!" His eyes went wide as he said it I could tell he was already regretting it, but it made no difference.

I had never been one for crying, but that had done it. The tears spilled over and I ran. It didn't matter that I wasn't quite sure where I was going I just had to go. So I ran until I started breathing hard then I slowed down, but I heard running from behind me so I ducked into the hall. It wasn't anyone I knew so I came out. Eventually I found my way to the next class I sat down next to Hermione who looked at me, but said nothing. The rest of the day passed by in a blur, I avoided Ron, Harry, and Draco as much as I could, and when dinner came I just went up to my room. Hermione came up to the girls' dormitory an hour later with a plate of food and a glass of apple juice. I thanked her and ate silently; she stayed with me the whole time not saying a word. When I was finished, she finally asked "You want to talk about it?"

I nodded and told her the conversation Draco and I had had. When I was done, she sat there and stared for a while. "You're going to have to talk to them eventually."

"I know, but not tonight; tomorrow at breakfast maybe." I said. She nodded and we both started getting ready for bed.

The next morning I went down to the common room, expecting it to be empty. It wasn't; Harry and Ron were sleeping in the two chairs closest to the fire. I tried to silently go back into the girls' dormitory, but I slipped on a sock someone had left lying around and came crashing down the stairs. _Crap._

Harry and Ron came bounding over. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said as they helped me up from the floor. I looked at them.

"What happened yesterday?" Ron finally asked.

"I found out about how Draco's been treating you so I talked to him about it. We both got angry and he called me a name. Me and him are no longer friends."

"I'm sorry." they both said.

"It doesn't matter, now I can hang out with my real friends." I said putting my arms over their shoulders. They both smiled.

A little later I went and got Hermione, and then all four of us headed down for breakfast. During breakfast I could tell Draco trying to catch my eye, but I decided to ignore him. _Let the guilt last a little longer._

I went through the day calm as ever, avoiding Draco and sticking with Hermione, Harry, and Ron, who I knew wouldn't let him within 20 feet of me. The day went pretty well, until Flying Class.


End file.
